Sunday, January 5, 2014

Binding a quilt with the quilt back

I made a doll quilt before Christmas and realized I’d never posted a tutorial on this quick and easy binding method. Since I know a lot of you are beginners…this is a really great way to dip your toes into binding a quilt. I especially love it for small things like hot pads, table toppers, or a mini quilt.

1. Baste your quilt. Normally I would cut the batting the exact same size as the quilt top…but in these pictures using this method was an afterthought. Believe me though…it’s much much easier to start with the batting the same size as the quilt top!

2. Quilt like normal…except make sure none of your stitches go into the batting. Start and stop all of your quilting stitches on the quilt top and backstitch.

3. Carefully cut the batting away (if it was a bit larger than the quilt top). This is tricky if you’ve quilted to the edge…which is why I recommend keeping your batting the exact same size as your quilt top before you start. I’ve cut through many backings by accident doing this!

4. Trim the backing fabric, leaving 1” around all sides of the quilt top.

5. Start anywhere, and fold the binding over halfway…

…and then in half again, and pin. You can do this on your ironing board and press it as you go…it makes it very simple. Fold all the way down to the next edge.

6. When you get to a corner, fold the corner up like so…

…then fold the next edge in half…

…and in half again to make a nice mitered corner. Pin it in place. You might have to play with the corner a bit, but once you actually do this it will make sense.

Continue until you’ve folded and pinned the binding around the whole quilt.

7. Sew it down using a walking foot, right along the edge of the binding. Sew to the corner and leave the needle in the fabric as you lift the presser foot and turn to go down the next edge. Easy as pie.

Now there are a couple of reasons I don’t love this method:

1. It’s hard to square up the quilt and keep the edges nice and straight. So I only use this on small things.

2. You have to plan so your backing fabric will also look great as your binding fabric.

3. If you quilt to the edge of your quilt top…you’re going to see it in the binding of the quilt on the back. I normally wouldn’t quilt to the edge using this method and instead quilt 1” away from the edge or so…but it was an afterthought with this little quilt.

Hi! Thank you for a great idea and tutorial! Often I have been thinking that normal binding needs too much fabric and time when making something small. This looks great and if we like, we could plan the backing so that there is a stripe with other colour. Happy NEW Year! x Teje

So great Alison! I've been using this method for years (it's how I learned to quilt) and use it to teach my friends. I'll have to reference your wonderful tutorial now, especially with such fabulous photos! Best, Kate

Thank you for teaching me this! I've learned so much from you on your blog. All the way from how to piece together batting to sewing together HST's with using tape. Your pictures are lovely. Thanks again for taking the time to share with all of us who are learning but don't have a physical person close who knows how to quilt to show us!

I'm a handquilter and I've been binding all my quilts this way for 30 years or so. The only thing I do different is when I fold the 1" of backing over, I slide the edge under the batting about 1/8" of an inch. That way, when I make the second fold a double layer of binding covers the quilt edge.

I was looking at one of my daughter's quilts the other day that I made in the mid-80s. The binding has worn thru so I need to replace it. This time, I'll use bias binding just like I would on any old quilt that needed a new one.

In the way old days we used to bind all our quilts this way. Now that some of those quilts are approaching their third decade, the edges are wearing out. And now it's not easy to re-bind them. I know no one plans to have quilts around for 20+ years, but it happens. One day you wake up and that quilt is still here, but now with worn edges that need a new binding (quilt is still going strong). Having older quilts around gives a perspective on solid vs. shoddy construction, too.

Glad you mentioned your dislikes. Since I'm an older quilter, I see also what time does, too.

I love reading your blog, but don't always comment--you have such fresh and beautiful designs (esp. love your new patterns!).

I love this! Thank you for posting it! I plan to make one.One funny thing, I kept wondering why you were adding a button to the binding! I thought maybe you were just showing the width of the binding. Finally, while showing my daughter, I realized it was part of the pin!

I love this! Thank you for posting it! I plan to make one.One funny thing, I kept wondering why you were adding a button to the binding! I thought maybe you were just showing the width of the binding. Finally, while showing my daughter, I realized it was part of the pin!

I just found this post when I asked google how to self bind a quilt. Thank you for this. I am now helping at church to make quilts that we send Lutheran Word Relief for charity. I wasn't sure if I did the mitre corner right. When I read your post, I found out that I did it right.

Allison, this is my favorite way of binding a quilt. I have done it this way since I began two years ago despite never having seen it done. I had seen only strip bindings where you have to do the bias folding. Well, once I saw in my own studio the easiness of this method, I was sold. Just like tying instead of trying to quilt on my tiny Singer.

Thank you for this clear tutorial! I found it on a google search. I've messed up so many corners of self-bindings over the years! I never could seem to get the folds to stay right. My latest project turned out perfectly.

This was the way that I first learnt to bind quilts back in the 1980s and was glad to move on to present day methods. However, it's a very good way for quick, machined binding instead of having to sew by hand on the back. Thanks for the reminder.

Thanks for such clear pictures and text. I'd previously struggled with my corners. I used this method to bind a bed runner. It was my first attempt at free quilting and as I was concerned about untidy loopy stitches showing through on the back of the quilt I used a piece of sheeting to back the quilt. I then used a 'good' piece of fabric to back and bind the finished quilt. Thanks again. Brenda K

I have been struggling with this problem for a while and could never get a neat finish. Then I found your post which is the clearest that I have found and now have no problem finishing my quilts.Thank you for a helpful post.

Thank you sooooo much. I've been learning to quilt now for about a year, and binding seems to be my greatest challenge, but this is the first tutorial that I feel I can actually accomplish without the stress of trying to finish my project. Thank you again so very much for sharing

I found your blog via Pinterest and so glad I did. This is exactly what I have been searching for. I am a very new beginner quilter. A friend of mine started a quilt for my little guy. She started the binding using the backing and she started by hand stitching. Well it was taking soooo long for her to finish this quilt (that I had every intention to do myself but she decided she was going to make it, well insisted) after months of waiting for the quilt I finally went and picked it up and insisted machine sewing would be faster then hand stitching. Considering I stay so busy with our farm the little one and our rescue kennel I didn't want to hand stitch this quilt with all the dogs and a little one always wanting right in the mix of things. I can't wait to get this quilt finished which was suppose to been done before Christmas ☺️ Now I will definitely be getting on This today !!! Thanks so much for all your tutorials they are all so helpful to us beginners and ALL of your quilts are just beautiful !!